James first Bishop of Jerusalem

James the Brother of God?

 

James (Hebrew: יעקב Ya'akov; Greek Ἰάκωβος Iákōbos), first Bishop of Jerusalem, who died in 62 or 69, was an important figure in Early Christianity. He is distinguished from the Apostle James, son of Zebedee by various epithets; he is called James the brother of the Lord by Paul (Galatians 1:19), James the brother of the Lord, surnamed the Just by Hegesippus and others, "James the Righteous", "James of Jerusalem", "James Adelphotheos" (Ἰάκωβος ὁ ἀδελφόθεος), and so on.



James became the leader of the Christian movement in Jerusalem in the decades after Jesus' death, but like the rest of the early Christians, information about his life is scarce and ambiguous. Apart from a handful of references in the Gospels, the main sources for his life are the Acts of the Apostles, the Pauline epistles, the historian Josephus, and St. Jerome who also quotes the early Christianchronicler Hegesippus. The Epistle of James in the New Testament is traditionally attributed to him, and he is a principal author of the Apostolic Decree of Acts 15. In the extant lists of Hippolytus of Rome, Dorotheus of Tyre, the Chronicon Paschale, and Dimitry of Rostov, he is the first of the Seventy Apostles, though some sources, such as the Catholic Encyclopedia, draw the conclusion that "these lists are unfortunately worthless".



Hegesippus in his fifth book of his Commentaries, writing of James, says "After the apostles, James the brother of the Lord surnamed the Just was made head of the Church at Jerusalem."



As a consequence of the doctrine of perpetual virginity, which does not allow that Mary had children after Jesus, Jerome considered that the term "brother" of the Lord should be read "cousin", and concluded that James "the brother of the Lord," (Gal.1:19) is thereforeJames, son of Alphaeus, one of the Twelve Apostles of Jesus, as well as James, the son of Mary Cleophas.  He is not, however, identified with James the Great. Some Protestant groups claim the Matthew 1:25 statement that Joseph "knew her not till she had brought forth her firstborn son" to mean that Joseph and Mary did have normal marital relations after Jesus' birth, and that James,Joses, Jude, and Simon were the biological sons of Mary and Joseph; and, thus, Jesus' half-brothers.



In the New Testament, James is simply "James", other than Paul's one reference to "James, the brother of the Lord" (Galatians 1:19).
Eusebius records that Clement of Alexandria related, "This James, whom the people of old called the Just because of his outstanding virtue, was the first, as the record tells us, to be elected to the episcopal throne of the Jerusalem church." The name also helps distinguish him from other important figures in early Christianity of the same name, such as James, son of Zebedee.

He is sometimes referred to in Eastern Christianity as "James Adelphotheos" (Greek: Iάκωβος ο Αδελφόθεος), i.e., "James the Brother of God". The oldest surviving Christian liturgy, the Liturgy of St James, called him "the brother of God" (Adelphotheos).

A Profession Of Faith From The Church Of Constantinople in the year 325 C.E. Under The Emperor Constantine

I renounce all customs, rites, legalisms. unleavened breads & sacrifices of lambs of the Hebrews,and all other feasts of the Hebrews, sacrifices, prayers, aspersions, purifications, sanctifications and propitiations and fasts, and new moons, and Sabbaths, and superstitions, and hymns and chants and observances and Synagogues, and the food and drink of the Hebrews; in one word, I renounce everything Jewish, every law, rite and custom and if afterwards I shall wish to deny and return to Jewish superstition, or shall be found eating with The Jews, or feasting with them, or secretly conversing and condemning the Christian religion instead of openly confuting them and condemning their vain faith, then let the trembling of Gehazi cleave to me, as well as the legal punishments to which I acknowledge myself liable. And may I be anathema in the world to come, and may my soul be set down with Satan and the devils.
Source: Parks, James The Conflict Of The Church And The Synagogue Atheneum, New York, 1974, pp. 397 - 398.

Amazing Evidence from Antiquity

1st Century B.C.

In the mid-1st century B.C. Julius Cæsar invited Sosigenes, an Alexandrian astronomer, to advise him about the reform of the calendar, and Sosigenes decided that the only practical step was to abandon the lunar calendar altogether. Months must be arranged on a seasonal basis, and a tropical (solar) year used, as in the Egyptian calendar. "The Julian Calendar," Encyclopedia Britannica.

These imported [from Babylon] superstitions eventually led Jewish rabbis to call Saturn Shabbti, 'the star of the Sabbath.' [and] it was not until the first century of our era, when the planetary week had become an established institution, that the Jewish Sabbath seems always to have corresponded to Saturn's Day [Saturday].Rest Days, p.244 by Hutton Webster

1st Century (A.D. 70)

How great are the things the enemy did wickedly in the Holy place. They hated your glory in the midst of your solemnities. They placed their signs and banners on the highest places. . . . They burned with fire your sanctuary; they befouled the tabernacle of your name on earth. The kindred of them said together in their hearts; make we all the "feast days" of God to cease from the earth. Psalms 74:3, 7, 8
Wycliffe Bible, 1378

2nd Century (Emperor Hadrian)

This change from the lunisolar to a fixed solar calendar occurred in Rome during the repressive measures which were enacted against ALL Jewish customs . . . during the reign of Emperor Hadrian. With the fall of the Nazarene headquarters...at Jerusalem, this new Roman calendar quickly spread throughout 'Christendom.' This new calendar not only replaced yearly festival dates such as Passover, but it also revamped the concept of the week and its seventh day. Iranaeus 2nd Century A.D.

The [lunar solar] calendar was used by all the original disciples of Yeshua. This original Nazarene lunar-solar calendar was supplanted by a Roman "planetary week" and calendar in 135 C.E. when the 'Bishops of the Circumcision' (i.e. legitimate Nazarene successors to Yeshua) were displaced from Jerusalem. This began a three hundred year controversy concerning the true calendar and the correct Sabbath. Shawui Calendar: Ancient Shawui Observance

2nd & 3rd Century (Clement of Alexandria)

"In the years following Clement of Alexandria's time, an ominous change started to take place that was to radically change the Christian concept of the Sabbath." Records the Encyclopedia Biblica: "This intimate connection between the week and the month was soon dissolved. It is certain that the week soon followed a development of its own, and it became the custom -- without paying any regard to the days of the month (i.e. the lunisolar month) . . . so that the New Moon no longer coincided with the first day of the month. Then, on page 4179 of the same encyclopedia, we read: "The introduction . . .of the custom of celebrating the Sabbath every 7th day, irrespective of the relationship of the day to the moon's phases, led to a complete separation from the ancient view of the Sabbath. . . Encyclopaedia Biblica, 1903 p. 5290.

It should be noted that the oldest dated Christian inscription to employ a planetary designation [Sunday - Saturday, unbroken cycle of weeks] belongs to the year 269 A.D. Inscriptiones Christianae urbis Romae, ed. De Rossi, 1861, i, No. 1.

We shall be taken for Persians [Mithraists], perhaps . . . The reason for this, I suppose, is that it is known that we pray towards the east . . . Likewise, if we devote the day of the Sun to festivity (from a far different reason from Sun worship), we are in a second place from those who devote the day of Saturn, themselves also deviating by way of a Jewish custom of which they are ignorant.Tertullian, Apologia.

4th Century (Emperor Constantine in A.D. 321-325)

The modern seven-day week came into use during the early imperial period, after the Julian calendar came into effect, apparently stimulated by immigration from the Roman East. For a while it coexisted alongside the old 8-day nundinal cycle, and fasti are known which show both cycles. It was finally given official status by Constantine in 321. Roman Calendar Encyclopedia, Days of the Week

Even after Constantine's edict about Sunday, it took another generation or two for the seven-day week to catch on throughout the empire. The 24-hour system took longer, having to wait until the invention of the mechanical clock in the Middle Ages by monks anxious to observe with precision their canonical hours. Before this, people marked the passage of time during the night by using the stars and during the day either by eyeballing the sun or by listening to public announcements of the time. Calendar, David Ewing Duncan, p. 47, New York, Avon Books, 1998.

A Profession Of Faith From The Church Of Constantinople in the year 325 C.E.(A.D.) Under The Emperor Constantine:
I renounce all customs, rites, legalisms. unleavened breads & sacrifices of lambs of the Hebrews, and all other feasts of the Hebrews, sacrifices, prayers, aspersions, purifications, sanctifications and propitiations and fasts, and new moons, and Sabbaths, and superstitions, and hymns and chants and observances and Synagogues, and the food and drink of The Hebrews; in one word, I renounce everything Jewish, every law, rite and custom and if afterwards I shall wish to deny and return to Jewish superstition, or shall be found eating with The Jews, or feasting with them, or secretly conversing and condemning the Christian religion instead of openly confuting them and condemning their vain faith, then let the trembling of Gehazi cleave to me, as well as the legal punishments to which I acknowledge myself liable. And may I be anathema in the world to come, and may my soul be set down with Satan and the devils. Source: Parks, James The Conflict Of The Church And The Synagogue Athenaeum, New York, 1974, p. 397-398.The present Jewish calendar was fixed [it was fixed to the unbroken-cycle-of-weeks] in the fourth century. Jewish Theological Seminary of America, Letter by Louis Finkelstein to Dr. L. E. Froom, Feb. 20, 1939. Regarding the present Jewish calendar.

Most Saturday Sabbatarians have been taught to believe that the Council of Laodicea, Canon 29 stated:

Christians shall not Judaize and be idle on Saturday, but shall work on that day; but the Lord's Day they shall especially honor, and, as being Christians, shall, if possible, do no work on that day. If however, they are found Judaizing, they shall be shut out from Christ.

However, the above quote is in error. According to Karl J. von Hefele, a Catholic bishop, in hisHistory of the Councils of the Church from the Original Documents, states that the word"Saturday" (dies Saturni) does not exist either in the Greek or Latin text. Rather, the word "Saturday" was supplied in the English translation in place of the word Sabbato, meaning Sabbath.

Quod non oportet Christianos Judaizere et otiare in Sabbato, sed operari in eodem die. Preferentes autem in veneratione Dominicum Diem si vacre voluerint, ut Christiani hoc faciat; quod si reperti fuerint Judaizere Anathema sint a Christo. Council of Laodicea, Canon 29

At the time the Julian calendar was being enforced upon Christians for religious purposes, no one confused the word Sabbato with dies Saturni. Simply everyone at that time knew these were names for two different days on two distinctly different calendar systems. It is only as the facts of history have been forgotten, that Saturday has been assumed to be the seventh-day Sabbath of Scripture. Therefore this historic quote from the Council of Laodicea, Canon 29, applies to lunisolar time-keeping only and not to the Gregorian calendar which keeps the rhythm of the pagan unbroken cycles of weeks. Lunisolar time-keeping was betrothed to mankind as an oracle of the government of heaven, and was the only time-system consistently kept by the Hebrew people during their times of faithfulness.

These . . . eventually led Jewish rabbis to call Saturn Shabbti, 'the star of the Sabbath.' It was not until the first century of our era, when the planetary week had become an established institution, that the Jewish Sabbath seems always to have corresponded to Saturn's Day [Saturday]. Rest Days, p.244 by Hutton Webster

Early historical records clearly confirms that very early Gentile Christians also kept the same Sabbath as the Nazarenes. This practice was first changed by [Pope] Sixtus in 126 AD, and later officially changed by a royal Roman decree from the emperor Constantine. Observance of the Sabbath day was made illegal and observance of a "sunday" of a fixed [cycling planetary designated] week was made mandatory for all except farmers. Previous to this time the Roman saturday was the first day of the Roman week. The veneration of the Sun in the second century AD began to pressure Roman culture to change the first day of their week from Saturn Day to Sunday. Shawui Sabbath: Ancient Sabbath Observance.

U.S. CALLS FOR 'RESTRAINT' OVER TEMPLE MOUNT

reposted from Arutz 7 Iyar 29, 5773, 09/05/13 The United States calls for both Israel and the PA to exercise restraint after the Grand Mufti is arrested for throwing chairs at Jews. by Elad Benari The United States on Wednesday called for both Israel and the Palestinian Authority to exercise restraint amid tensions over a disturbance at the Al-Aqsa mosque compound in Jerusalem. "We're concerned about the recent tensions surrounding the Temple Mount, Haram al-Sharif, including the detention today of the Grand Mufti," State Department deputy spokesman Patrick Ventrell, told reporters, according to AFP, using the Muslim name for the Temple Mount. "We understand that he was released," he said. "But we urge all sides to respect the status quo of this holy site and to exercise restraint and refrain from provocative actions." Earlier Wednesday, Israeli police questioned and released Jerusalem's most senior Muslim cleric for suspected involvement in throwing chairs at a group of Jews on the Temple Mount. The Mufti of Jerusalem Mohammed Hussein was taken from his home by detectives and was being questioned at a police station "on suspicion of involvement in a disturbance that took place yesterday (Tuesday) on Temple Mount," police spokesman Micky Rosenfeld told AFP. Hussein's detention came as Israelis were celebrating Jerusalem Day. In response to the incident, Jordan MPs unanimously demanded that the government expel Israeli Ambassador Daniel Nevo . "The (150-member) lower house of parliament unanimously demanded the government ask the Israeli ambassador to leave Jordan, and recall the Jordanian ambassador in Israel," Jordnian official Walid Obeidat said, adding that the vote came in response to "Israeli occupation measures at Al-Aqsa mosque". After Israel liberated the Temple Mount during the 1967 Six Day War, it left the Waqf in charge of the compound. The Waqf, in return, has removed every sign of ancient Jewish presence at the Jewish holy site and has consistently destroyed Jewish antiquities on the Temple Mount in a direct violation of a ruling by the Supreme Court. Complete story: http://www.templeinstitute.org/archive/09-05-13a1.htm

May is National Masturbation Month U.N. Report Advocates Teaching Masturbation to 5-Year-Olds

May is National Masturbation Month?

U.N. Report Advocates Teaching Masturbation to 5-Year-Olds - Pervert's at The Helm

 


The UN would rule the world if it had the power.
This kind of stuff is unacceptable. It's the kind of thing Joycelyn Elders would suggest.
How about schools teach the basics?
Reading and comprehension, Writing, Math, Science; Social Skills, Geography and some PE.
It would be nice if they taught some real History too instead of re-writing it.Teach them the vision of the founding fathers.
This story was first published in 2009; but it illustrates one of the reasons why the education system is failing our children. It also illustrates why parents are ultimately responsible for what their children learn.
- Glenn

U.N. Report Advocates Teaching Masturbation to 5-Year-Olds

The United Nations is recommending that children as young as five receive mandatory sexual education that would teach even pre-kindergartners about masturbation and topics like gender violence.


The U.N.'s Economic, Social and Cultural Organization (UNESCO) released a 98-page report in June offering a universal lesson plan for kids ranging in age from 5-18, an
"informed approach to effective sex, relationships" and HIV education that they say is essential for "all young people."


The U.N. insists the program is "age appropriate," but critics say it's exposing kids to sex far too early, and offers up abstract ideas — like "transphobia" — they might not even understand.


"At that age they should be learning about ... the proper name of certain parts of their bodies," said Michelle Turner, president of Citizens for a Responsible Curriculum, "certainly not about masturbation."


Turner was disturbed by UNESCO's plans to explain to children as young as nine about the safety of legal abortions, and to advocate and "promote the right to and access to safe abortion" for everyone over the age of 15.


"This is absurd," she told FOXNews.com.


The UNESCO report, called "International Guidelines for Sexuality Education," separates children into four age groups: 5-to-8-year-olds, 9-to-12-year-olds, 12-to-15-year-olds and 15-to-18-year-olds.


Under the U.N.'s voluntary sex-ed regime, kids just 5-8 years old will be told that "touching and rubbing one's genitals is called masturbation" and that private parts "can feel pleasurable when touched by oneself."


By the time they're 9 years old, they'll learn about "positive and negative effects of 'aphrodisiacs," and wrestle with the ideas of "homophobia, transphobia and abuse of power."


At 12, they'll learn the "reasons for" abortions — but they'll already have known about their safety for three years. When they're 15, they'll be exposed to direct "advocacy to promote the right to and access to safe abortion."


Child health experts say they are wary of teaching about the sticky topic of abortion, but stress that as long as messages stay age-appropriate, educating kids at a younger age helps better steer them into adulthood.


"The adults are more leery of [early sex-ed] than the kids are," said Dr. Jennifer Hartstein, a child psychiatrist in New York. "Our own fears sometimes prevent us from being as open and honest with our kids as possible."


Hartstein, however, who didn't see much harm in explaining basic concepts that kids of all ages will have questions about, was baffled by some of the ideas the U.N. hoped to introduce to kids as young as 5 years old, who will be taught about "gender roles, stereotypes and gender-based violence."


"I want to know how you teach that to a 5-year-old," Hartstein told FOXNews.com.


Despite those challenges, the U.N. insists that "in a world affected by HIV and AIDS ... there is an imperative to give children and young people the knowledge, skills and values to understand and make informed decisions."


UNESCO officials said the guidelines were "co-authored by two leading experts in the field of sexuality education" — Dr. Doug Kirby, an adolescent sexuality expert, and Nanette Ecker, the former director of international education and training at the Sexuality Information and Education Council of the United States.


Their report was based on a "rigorous review" of sex-ed literature, "drawing upon 87 studies from around the world," said Mark Richmond, director of UNESCO's Division for the Coordination of U.N. Priorities in Education, in an e-mailed statement.


Richmond defended teaching about masturbation as "age-appropriate" because even in early childhood, "children are known to be curious about their bodies." Their lessons, he added, would hopefully help kids "develop a more complex understanding of sexual behavior" as they grow into adults.


But Michelle Turner, of Citizens for a Responsible Curriculum, said that such roles should be left up to parents, and worried that children were being exposed to too much information too soon.


"Why can't kids be kids anymore?" she said.

Source: http://www.alipac.us/f19/u-n-report-advocates-teaching-masturbation-5-year-olds-perverts-helm-273535/ 

U.N. Report Advocates Teaching Masturbation to 5-Year-Olds | Fox News

Report Blames Many Causes For Bees' Disappearance

"The nation is "on the brink" of not having enough bees to pollinate its crops."?

Report Blames Many Causes For Bees' Disappearance

By Seth Borenstein/AP Science Writer

WASHINGTON (AP) — A new federal report blames a combination of problems for a mysterious and dramatic disappearance of U.S. honeybees since 2006.

The intertwined factors cited include a parasitic mite, multiple viruses, bacteria, poor nutrition, genetics, habitat loss and pesticides.

The multiple causes make it harder to do something about what's called colony collapse disorder, experts say. The disorder has caused as much as one-third of the nation's bees to just disappear each winter since 2006.

Bees, especially honeybees, are needed to pollinate crops.

The federal report, issued Thursday by the Agriculture Department and the Environmental Protection Agency, said the biggest culprit is the parasitic mite varroa destructor, calling it "the single most detrimental pest of honeybees."

The problem has also hit bee colonies in Europe, where regulators are considering a ban on a type of pesticides known as neonicotinoids that some environmental groups blame for the bee collapse. The U.S. report cites pesticides, but near the bottom of the list of factors. And federal officials and researchers advising them said the science doesn't justify a ban of the pesticides yet.

May Berenbaum, a top bee researcher from the University of Illinois, said in an interview that she was "extremely dubious" that banning the pesticide would have any effect on bee health. She participated in a large conference of scientists that the government brought together last year to figure out what's going on, and the new report is the result of that conference.

Berenbaum said more than 100 different chemicals — not just the pesticides that may be banned in Europe — have been found in bee colonies. Scientists find it hard to calculate how they react in different dosages and at different combinations, she said.

Some of these chemicals harm the immune systems of bees or amplify viruses, said Penn State University bee expert Diana Cox-Foster.

At a news conference Thursday, Sonny Ramaswamy, a top USDA official, said the scientific consensus is that there are multiple factors "and you can't parse any one out to be the smoking gun."

USDA bee researcher Jeff Pettis also cited modern farming practices that often leave little forage area for bees.

Dave Gaulson of the University of Stirling in Scotland, who conducted a study last year that implicated the chemical, said he can't disagree with the overall conclusions of the U.S. government report. However, he said it could have emphasized pesticides more.

The environmental group, Pesticide Action Network North America blasted the federal government for not following Europe's lead in looking at a ban of certain pesticides.

Pollinators, like honeybees, are crucial to the U.S. food supply. About $30 billion a year in agriculture depends on their health, said Ramaswamy.

Besides making honey, honeybees pollinate more than 90 flowering crops. Among them are a variety of fruits and vegetables: apples, nuts, avocados, soybeans, asparagus, broccoli, citrus fruit and cranberries. About one-third of the human diet comes from insect-pollinated plants, and the honeybee is responsible for 80 percent of that pollination.

"It affects virtually every American whether they realize it or not," said EPA acting administrator Bob Perciasepe.

Zac Browning, a fourth-generation commercial beekeeper who has hives in Idaho, North Dakota and California, said the nation is "on the brink" of not having enough bees to pollinate its crops.

University of Maryland entomologist David Inouye, who was not part of the federal report, said he agrees that there are multiple causes.

"It's not a simple situation. If it were one factor we would have identified it by now," he said.

Inouye, president-elect of the Ecological Society of America, said the problems in Europe and United States may be slightly different. In America, bee hives are trucked from farm to farm to pollinate large tracts of land and that may help spread the parasites and disease, as well as add stress to the colonies, while in Europe they stay put so those issues may not be as big a factor.

At the news conference, Berenbaum said there's no single solution to the U.S. bee problem: "We're not really well equipped or even used to fighting on multiple fronts."

The report: http://www.usda.gov/documents/ReportHoneyBeeHealth.pdf